Family Man
by Yawping Stance
Summary: "But you're needed here, Jack…she needs you. We all do. She needs a father…it's been ten years…It's time to come home, Jack." The Pearl lands in a tiny coastal town and it's here that Will and Elizabeth find out what exactly it is that drives Captain Jack Sparrow's need for treasure that makes the bearer immortal: a dying girl. (No longer a oneshot!)
1. Family Man

_**Disclaimer: Not mine blah blah **_

**Author's Note: **Retconning OST because I've only seen it once (haven't bought it yet -.-) and frankly I can't remember all the details. This is set some time during the third movie after Jack is rescued from the Locker but before the Pirate's Council. Please have a care, this is my first fic in a very long time, though I feel I've become a better writer in the meantime. Anyway Enjoy!

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**Family Man**

The _Pearl_ had docked in the harbor of a small port town late in the afternoon and the sun was setting over the water by the time Jack set foot on land. Accompanying him were Mr. Gibbs, Will, and Elizabeth though two of the three didn't know why they were there in the first place. Jack had been tight-lipped about their reasons for landing here when all of their lives were in such peril and Mr. Gibbs, usually willing to share when asked the right questions, would only shake his head. They'd know soon enough.

Jack led them through the port, nodding at several men who seemed to know him—but then again, was there anywhere Captain Jack Sparrow _wasn't_ known?—and past the initial cluster of houses. When the houses thinned out and yards could be seen, music could also be heard wafting on the air and getting closer. The entire time they were walking Mr. Gibbs had walked slightly ahead with Jack, their heads bent together in some intense discussion. It was like Jack to be secretive but not _this_ secretive. Will and Elizabeth exchanged cautiously curious looks.

Finally the four travelers reached the source of the music: a party being held in someone's yard, though it seemed to spill into those of the neighbors on either side. Paper lanterns were strung between trees and candles melted into stubs on tables and tree stumps. On the side farthest from the backs of the houses was a band comprised of a guitar, a banjo, an accordion, and a fiddle. It looked like most of the town was there, dancing and laughing amongst themselves as children ran about playing games between the adults legs. All in all it seemed a scene too…wholesome for the likes of Jack Sparrow. The captain crept up behind a short blonde woman with a grin and tickled her sides, causing her to start. His face clearly showed she'd not been who he was expecting, though they were on friendly terms.

"Jackie! I were wonderin' when you were gonna show up!" The florid-faced, rotund woman wrapped her arms around Jack's middle and he hugged her gently back. He looked nervous and impatient. Will and Elizabeth looked at each other again, the woman's familiarity indicating he'd been here before and the lack of being slapped across the face indicating his reputation perhaps wasn't quite as well known here.

"Fan, have you seen Jenny?" he asked quietly.

"Jen-? Of course! Of course! Right over there, lad!" Fan pointed with the hand that held her mug, accidentally slopping some of her drink onto the ground.

Captain Jack thanked her with a hand on her shoulder and jerked his head in the direction she had pointed, indicating that they should follow. After about five minutes of searching he apparently found this "Jenny," though from the concerned look he exchanged with Gibbs he wasn't entirely happy about it. He tried again, walking up behind a woman and spinning her around. The woman screamed in surprise and laughed when he set her down and turned around to see who her assailant was.

"Jack Sparrow!" she cried with a smile before throwing her arm around his neck. Jack grinned and wrapped both arms around the woman's waist, closing his eyes and hugging her close. Jenny was an attractive woman around Jack's age, late thirties or early forties, with dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. The top of her head barely brushed Jack's chin and he seemed used to resting it there.

"And who's _this_ handsome stranger?" Jack tickled under the chin of the baby in Jenny's other arm. The child was about six months old and looked at Jack with that sort of starry-eyed amazement at a new person. He grabbed the pirate's finger and started directing it toward his open mouth…but got distracted halfway through by the paper lanterns hanging above him.

"This is Steven," Jenny said almost tersely, suddenly not as happy as she had been upon discovering Captain Sparrow had been the one with an arm around her waist. That hand still rested at her hip as if it belonged there, other hand still captured by the baby. "I wrote to you, you know. Six times."

"Well I'm always on the move, and—"

"Sent the letter to Captain Teague."

"Oh. Well er…he didn't find me. If he had, I'd have—"

"_He_ came. Left about a month ago. Stayed nearly half a year."

"Well _bully_ for him! _I'm_ a bit busy!" Jack snapped, pressing his lips together in annoyance.

Already this conversation seemed to be devolving quickly and Gibbs could see the direction it was headed and tried to usher Will and Elizabeth away but they refused. The scene unfolding before them was yet another layer of mystery to Captain Jack Sparrow to which they wanted to see the truth. The burgeoning argument was interrupted anyway, however, by a strapping youth striding up to them. The fiddler from the band had dark hair and eyes and a long, thin nose. The awkward, gangly look to his limbs indicated that puberty hadn't quite finished ravaging his body yet.

"Mum, I—" He stopped short upon seeing Jack and his face fell into nothing short of a glare. "I just wanted to let you know it looks like it's going to be a late night." His voice had gone flat and his gaze didn't turn from Jack though he addressed Jenny.

"That's fine John. I'll let you know when Steven starts gettin' fussy and just wake me up when you're home. Alright?" Young John nodded. "Well aren't you gonna say hello?"

"Evenin', Jack," John said coldly through clenched teeth before turning to leave. Jack looked as if he'd been slapped.

"Johnathan!" his mother scolded. Jack started into the crowd after the youth, but the woman grabbed his arm to stop him.

"He may be thirteen, but he's not too old to—"

"Fifteen, Jack."

"What?"

"He's _fifteen._ And he's angry. And to be honest he has every right to be. I mean, can you blame him?"

Will was starting to piece the story together. The woman was a widow or something and Jack had gotten her pregnant then left, leaving her son to help raise the baby left behind. Captain Teague, whoever he was, was the link that connected them and Jack had ignored her letters for help. The pirate opened his mouth to argue with the woman when two knee-high blonde blurs shattered Will's version of the story.

"_Daddy!_" Jack staggered as a pair of twin girls attached themselves one to each leg. "Daddydaddydaddydaddy!" Looking down he laughed at the little imps clinging to his calves.

"_There's_ my girls!" Bending down Captain Jack Sparrow took each little blonde in one arm and rested them against his waist. It was clear he'd done this many times before, particularly as they hugged him tightly around his neck.

"_Uncle Joshee!_" Jack almost lost his grip on the girls as they both flopped forward to hug Gibbs around the neck. He flushed and hugged the girls back, explaining with an embarrassed expression to Will and Elizabeth that when they were younger _Joshemee_ had been a little too much of a mouthful. The couple were still reeling from the shock of seeing Jack Sparrow respond so readily to cries of 'daddy.' They'd thought that was one sound he'd have turned and run from.

"This is Celia and Layla," Jack introduced them to Will and Elizabeth, hitching up first one then the other.

"No, _she's_ Layla, _I'm_ Celia!" the second girl insisted, pointing to her sister. Jack raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Really? Because, you know I could have sworn…Celia was ticklish…_here!_" He wrapped his arm around the twin who had been introduced as Celia and tickled her belly. "And Layla was ticklish _here!_" The other girl got it behind her knees. He chuckled as they screamed with laughter and squirmed in their father's grip.

"They're seven," Jenny added with a tired smile, seemingly as much for Jack's benefit as for the strangers'.

"Seven _and a half_ Mummy!" Layla corrected, recovering from the tickling and clinging to her father's neck again.

"You're right, seven and a half," the woman conceded graciously with a nod.

"And _these_," Jack addressed his daughters, "are my friends Will and Elizabeth. They're helping me find—"

"The magical horse to Tirnanog?"

"The Fountain of Youth?" Celia and Layla, at least, seemed familiar with Jack's adventures and delighted in guessing where he was going next.

"The Dead Man's Chest!" Jack grinned at their wide-eyed reactions.

"But Daddy! Davey Jones he'll…he'll…he'll make his pet kraken swallow you whole!"

"Nah! Ain't nothin' can keep your dear ol' Dad away," Jack grinned, neglecting to tell little Celia that the kraken had already done just that.

"Jack…" Jenny's voice carried a tired, warning tone. She'd clearly heard all of this before.

"Then once I got that I'll be comin' back." He grinned, ignoring the woman.

"_Jack!_ Girls…you haven't eaten dinner. Go find Widow Blankenship and get something to eat."

"But Mummy-!"

"Daddy'll still be here when you're done eatin…I think. Nothin's to keep you from starving to death." The twins sighed and wriggled out of Jack's arms and he let them slide to the ground. He watched them run off with a look of longing in his eyes; he'd missed them very much while he was gone.

"What?" he demanded, whirling on Jenny when they were out of earshot.

"No more, Jack," she said firmly, pursing her lips together. "No more Holy Grails or Fountains of Youth or Aztec treasures or whatever other crap you can find! We can't take it anymore." She was angry, but more than anger her voice carried the tone of one pleading. Jack heard the sorrow in her voice and his expression softened. He took a step toward her and put his hand on her hip again. Baby Steven began to fuss.

"Jenny…I can't just give up." He seemed to have forgotten that the others were there, at least for the moment. His eyes widened momentarily in fear. "Unless…?" She shook her head and the baby started to cry a little.

"Not yet. But you're needed here, Jack…_she_ needs you. We all do. She needs a father…it's been ten years…" She closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek. Jack put his hand to her face and wiped it away before it could reach her chin. Steven was starting to cry louder as his mother seemed to get more upset.

"Soon, love." He kissed her forehead gently, bringing his hand around to cup her neck. "I promise. Just as soon as I—"

"_No!_ No just as soon as anything! We need you here, now." Jenny's eyes were bright with tears as she opened them. "It's time to come home, Jack." She turned and began to walk away briskly.

"Jenny! Jennifer!" The pirate started after her and grabbed her arm. She whirled around and looked like she would have slapped him had she not been holding a child.

"_Your son_ is hungry and unless you want me showing my tits to your new friends I'll be thanking you to remove your unwashed digits." Jenny's voice was cold and he let go of her wrist. He trudged back over to the others.

"Well, that went better than usual," Gibbs said in an attempt to be cheerful. "I think the baby's done good for 'er." Jack sighed and rubbed his face and looked up at Will and Elizabeth.

"Meet the missus," he said wearily, gesturing behind himself. "And the kids. Except where's…?" He straightened and looked around, then seemed to spot who he was looking for. With a grin he strode forward.

Will and Elizabeth watched as Jack walked up to a pretty little girl as dark as he was, no older than ten or twelve. Her legs were atrophied from some crippling sort of disease and she had to use a pair of canes to stilt around; in a century or so this disease would come to be known as 'polio,' but for now all Jack and Jenny knew was that she was lucky to have even survived this long. The pirate wrapped his arms around his eldest daughter's shoulders and kissed the top of her head. In a moment everything became clear, and Mr. Gibbs confirmed their suspicions.

"If you ever wondered why Jack takes to the seas after treasure what'll make you immortal…Sally Sparrow's why," he said quietly, solemnly, watching the pair reunite as though it were a sad occasion rather than a happy one. "Doctors told 'im she wouldn't live past three and it's a miracle she's gone on this long."

"What's wrong with her?" Elizabeth asked. Gibbs shrugged.

"Who knows? They don't…they just know it's killin' 'er real slow-like. Ain't painless, neither. Jack won't give up lookin' fer somethin' to save 'is li'l girl." He sighed heavily and shook his head. "But Jenny's right. More'n a cure she needs a dad."

"Papa, I asked John to play a song real slow for us. Will you dance with me?"

"Course, sweet'eart." Jack could barely hide the tears glistening in his eyes. "Course I'll dance with ya."

He helped her set her canes aside and picked her up bridal style to carry her out where everyone was dancing. The youthful fiddler looked at his father and nodded slightly before playing a slow, somewhat somber tune. Jack set his daughter down gingerly and placed her feet on his, holding her up to dance with her as best they could.

Will stood somewhat flabbergasted. He'd never thought of Jack as a family man, nor had he ever imagined he was after treasures for more than himself. He had always assumed that Jack simply had a fear of death a little more irrational than most. But the treasures untold that would work miracles, cure the sick, make the holder immortal…all of it had been for his daughter. Little Sally Sparrow whose only wish was to dance with her father.

* * *

Jenny had invited her husband's three companions to stay the night at the Sparrow homestead after the party instead of on the ship and they graciously accepted. Blankets and pillows were laid out for them on cushions in the sitting room and Elizabeth smiled at Will as down the hall Jack could be heard telling a bedtime story. His voice changed pitch with the character talking and it sounded like he had lunged upon the twins and was tickling them again at certain scarier parts, just so they didn't get _too_ scared. Jenny had already put the baby to bed in Sally's room and young John was helping her make tea for the guests. The two strangers to this secret life of Jack's could only imagine this was how every night had been before he'd left.

Later in the night when all of the candles had been blown out Jack and Jenny Sparrow retired to their own room at the other end of the house. Were anyone to pass outside their door they would have heard the sounds that always accompanied one of Jack's visits home. It always started out a soft but serious discussion, then their voices raised as it became a fight and behind closed doors they were standing on opposite sides of the bed yelling at each other. Then Mrs. Sparrow's soft weeping soon followed, accompanied by her husband's voice trying to soothe her. It ended as all of their fights did and the sounds of gentle love-making could be heard just outside their door until an hour or two before dawn.

Late the next morning the _Pearl_ was off again. Jack kissed his wife goodbye along with each of their children, promising to return soon. They all knew that was a bluff; he didn't know when he'd be back. They just hoped, as did he, that he would be back in time. In time for Sally to live or die was anyone's guess…but either way, one day hopefully soon Captain Jack Sparrow would come home.

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I'm a review whore and this is my first fic in a looooong time. Leave me some love and I may let Little Sally live...

Please?


	2. Rum's Good For The Heart

**A/N: **So I couldn't resist. We're going to be exploring the history of the Sparrow family, from the very beginning. This will be a series of oneshots, but they'll be going in chronological order. Reviews are greatly appreciated and I will return love with love. Also, first one to spot any sort of Doctor Who reference in this at all gets cookies. I'll update as often as possible but since my laptop is on the fritz we'll see how well that goes.

_Chapter Two_

_Rum's Good For The Heart_

The tavern was warm and pleasantly crowded. A band played a cheerful tune from the corner and plenty of laughter rose from various tables. It wasn't the type of seedy pub Jack and his father usually chose; there were few if any unsavories and the tables and dishes were all clean. This was plain to see because every corner was well-lit. It was a weird sort of place, Jack decided immediately.

Captain Teague steered his son to a table by the wall and nodded to the waitress. She was a pretty thing, all smiles and bounciness and tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder to laugh along with her inebriated customers. She nodded back to the captain and motioned that she'd be with them in a moment. Jack didn't notice; he was still nursing a broken heart over Angelica. Well, less a broken heart and more guilt over leaving her without a word. He hadn't been in love, of course, but there had been definite feelings.

"What'll it be, boyos?" the waitress asked with a cheerful grin. She pulled a small pad of paper and a bit of charcoal from her apron pocket.

"Just an ale, and whatever the house special is," Captain Teague answered in his gravelly voice. The girl smiled and nodded.

"Stargazey pie, then. Fer you, love?"

"Same," Jack grunted, not looking up from the table.

"Yer sure?" Her gentle Irish brogue made her sound extremely concerned. "Look like you could use sommat a bit stronger. Me da's just got in a bunch o' bottles of rum from the Caribbean. Best on the island." She gave him a coy, prodding smile.

"Your da?" Jack finally looked up at her. "This is his pub?"

"Mm-hmm." She smiled brightly. "And this rum's good fer the heart. Guarantee it."

He squinted hard at her for a few moments, then finally nodded. "Alright then. Bring us some of that rum."

Jack, in his twenty-three short years, had sailed with his father since he was old enough. He had, however, not yet been to the Caribbean. Singapore, Australia, Japan, and all around Europe, but he had yet to see Jamaica, Bermuda, or any of the other places they might brew rum from the cane sugar crops. This new drink was sweet and warmed him from the inside. The girl had brought him just one bottle to start, but one became two, then a third.

"I never asked," Jack slurred halfway through the third bottle shared with Captain Teague, "whassyer name?"

"Mine?" The pretty girl was working into the wee hours and the tavern was nearly empty. "Jenny."

"Jenny wha'?"

"Jenny Dolan." She was wiping down a table near him. Jenny had been accommodating and patient with him all night.

"No, s'not."

"It's not?" She smiled, looking up from her work. "What's my name then, Jack?" She had been on a first name basis before the end of the first bottle.

"It's Jenny Sparrow." Jenny laughed and Captain Teague shook his head, standing. He'd leave his son to drunkenly flirt away his sorrows; he was tired.

"Jenny Sparrow, eh? When'd we get married? I musta been drunk, too." She shook her head and continued working. This exchange was followed shortly by a hollow thunk. Jack had passed out on the table. With a sigh, Jenny shook her head; he had lasted longer than she had expected.

Jack awoke the next morning with a throbbing head. He moaned and tried to lift his head, but that proved to be a bad idea. His hand knocked against wood and when he pried his eyes open he saw it was a bucket. How nice. Upon further investigation of his surroundings, he discovered a pillow beneath his head and a thin wool blanket around his shoulders. The bucket stank already, but he didn't remember waking up to empty his stomach's rum-diluted contents into it.

Finally plucking up enough strength and courage to raise his head, Jack saw across the scrubbed wooden table a girl. The girl from last night was resting her head on her arms, blonde hair sprawled across the table. A hurricane lamp flickered low between them, though the first weak, watery rays of light were crawling up over the windowsill. The tavern was empty and quiet.

Jenny. Her name came floating back through the cottony murk, shortly followed by the rest of the night. Jenny Sparrow…how embarrassing…He'd been drunk before, but never quite _that_ drunk. He wanted to apologize, but he didn't want to wake her up. Working in a tavern, surely the sweet girl had endured worse, but that was no excuse. The young pirate tried to stand quietly so as to let himself out and disappear from her life. Unfortunately, though she slept through his chair scraping loudly across the floor and having the blanket draped over her shoulders in turn, Jenny jerked awake when he tripped over a chair and caught himself in several stomping steps.

"Mm?" Jenny's head jerked up from her arms and she looked blearily around. "We still gettin' married, Jack?" she asked sleepily, giving him a good-natured smile. Jack flushed lightly with embarrassment.

"Nah," he answered, smiling back. "Your da might not let me come back and drink any more of his rum if I married his daughter."

She chuckled. "Toldja it was good, din't I?"

Jenny Dolan seemed to be considering Jack for a moment. She had seen him after a few pulls on the bottle, enough to loosen him up but nowhere near drunk yet, and he had seemed a charming and interesting man. He certainly was attractive; unlike his father there was no khol around his eyes, no dreadlocks in his shoulder-length dark hair, nor had wind and sun worn his clean-shaven face into lined, cracked leather. She decided she wanted to get to know him better.

"I dunno bout getting' ourselves married, but if you've drowned your conscience over Angelica enough, I know a place better than a bar we can talk. When I'm off work tonight." She looked boldly at Jack, chewing her lip nervously but not blushing.

Angelica…Somwhere around the second bottle Angelica had come up, until a good song had been struck up to distract him again. Jack considered Jenny and her boldness for a moment. He didn't know why, perhaps it was her sleepy half-smile or the way her messy hair framed her face, but he said yes. Jack had a time of convincing Captain Teague to stay a few extra days, and not without much teasing from the crew over the blonde bar maid he later discovered to be four years his junior. They had made port on Tuesday, and by the time they sailed out Friday evening Jack watched the twinkling town lights until they disappeared, Angelica all but forgotten.


	3. A Nest of Sparrows

**A/N:** So I'm sorry it's been so long. I know I said I'd post more often but my computer was completely junked and now it's an issue of getting internet hooked up. However, to make up for it I'll post another chapter right after this one! Sound good? Good. So if you could just do me a favor and review that'd be great. Happy reading!

_Chapter Three_

_A Nest of Sparrows_

"Jack…_Jack!_"

Jack's eyes snapped open. He was staring at the ceiling of his sitting room, the bungalow on the hill Jenny had inherited two years ago when her gran had passed away. In the four years since they'd met, Jenny had become Jack's best friend, then lover, then for the past two and a half years she had been his wife.

"Jack, are you alright?" Jenny frowned as she helped him sit up. He blinked and shook his head to clear it.

"Yeah…yeah, I just thought you said…"

"I did." Jack blinked hard again, trying to process the information his wife had just given him.

He reflected on the past four years. How after a year of making port in the tiny Irish village as often as possible he had gone to Jenny's father for permission to marry her. He'd said no; he didn't want an inconstant sea-faring man for his middle child. If Jack wanted Jenny for his wife, he'd have to be coming home to her every night. This had, of course, caused a huge row between Captain Teague and his son. Teague liked Jenny, but was convinced that life as a fisherman (as was Jack's "settling down" plan) would be insufficient to answer the call of the freedom of the sea. They hadn't spoken for three days, until Jack had made it clear that when Captain Teague sailed, he'd be staying no matter how things between them had been left.

Six months later they had married. Captain Teague had come, to Jack's great surprise, and they had lived in relative comfort since. Jenny had mentioned children more than several times, usually after being nudged by friends or family about giving her parents grandchildren, and it always ended in a row. Jenny felt like Jack's not wanting children reflected on her as a wife and lover. He couldn't find the words to explain to her it had nothing to do with her and everything to do with him not wanting to turn out like Captain Teague. He loved his father, but he wanted to be a better dad than his had been. He just didn't know how.

"Pregnant…?"

"Three months, the doctor thinks." A slow grin had spread across her face, a light in her eyes he'd never seen before. The light and grin faded, however, as she studied his expression. "You're not happy," she said softly, tears beginning to well in her eyes. "You still don't want it." She stood and began to turn away.

"No, Jenny!" Jack reached up and caught her wrist. She tried to pull away, but he held firmly as he clambered to his feet. With both hands on her shoulders he turned her to face him. "Now you listen to me, Jennifer Sparrow," Jack said softly, looking her in the eye. "I love you, and I'm gonna love this baby, and the three of us are gonna be a family. I just…it's scary, alright? I'm just…I don't wanna mess 'im up. I can't let our kid turn out like me."

His wife did her best to blink the tears out of her eyes. She sniffled and put a hand to her husband's cheek. "I dunno, I think you turned out pretty alright," Jenny said with a watery half smile. Jack closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against her palm.

"Aye, and it took the love of a good woman to get me there, instead of like my pirate father."

"Yeah, well…our baby won't _have_ a pirate father, huh?" She smiled and Jack grinned back.

"S'pose not, eh?"

* * *

"It's a boy, Jack." Jenny's chest still heaved, sweat plastered curls of hair to her cheeks and forehead. Her eyes, though tired, shone with triumph. Clutched to her chest was a brand-new, tiny little human. It—_he—_seemed so impossibly small and fragile in his wife's arms. Mrs. Sparrow, for her part, had hardly ever been more gorgeous in Jack's eyes. And she had always been gorgeous to him.

"A boy?" Jack repeated softly, stepping into the room. "I have a son?" For four hours he had been pacing around and outside the house. Sounds of his wife's suffering had filtered through to him, driving him half-mad with worry, and never had Jack been so glad to hear the wail of a child.

"You have a son," Jenny confirmed with a grin. "C'mere, Jack. Come hold your son."

Jack made a small noise of protest, terrified of dropping the baby or somehow holding him wrong. He was so tiny and delicate in his swaddling clothes. But Jack Sparrow looked into his son's eyes and his entire life changed. Gone was the boy who had passed out drunk in Michael Dolan's tavern. This man who had taken his place was determined to love and protect this little boy to whom whatever higher power had decided him fit to be a father. He would do right by his son.

* * *

The Sparrows had grown only happier with the addition to their little family. The fishing was good and the tavern's business was good. Jenny still worked there until she was too heavy with child to be quick on her feet, and resumed work once the child was weaned and able to be watched by his grandmother. Little Jonathan Sparrow—named after his father but called John instead of Jack Jr.—was as happy as any child. Happier than some, in fact, since he enjoyed an adoring father, a loving if not somewhat coddling mother, and grandparents who enjoyed spoiling the youngest of their five cumulative grandchildren. At four years old he was delighted to be told he was to have a baby brother or sister to play with.

Sally Sparrow was born premature several months after her brother's fifth birthday. It was touch-and-go for a few weeks, but at last the danger seemed to have passed. And then, at thirteen months old, she fell ill. The next three months were a constant struggle. Sally was constantly on the brink of death, constantly wailing in her anguish, both parents were always irritable from worry and lack of sleep, and John grew more and more troublesome in an effort to regain his parents' attention. The Sparrows' financial burden was eased somewhat by a collection taken up at church, enough for a specialist all the way from Galway, but after the doctors' fees were the medications and travel and numerous other incidentals.

Finally, it seemed, the storm had passed. There was just the issue of Sally's seeming reluctance to walk again after being crib-bound for so long. A few months before her first birthday she had taken her first steps, but now appeared to have never learned at all. Just one more doctor's visit, just his assurance that this set-back was normal and would pass, and they could put this awfulness behind them.

"Paralyzed?" Jack had to grip the back of a chair to keep his knees from buckling. Jenny was outside with the children since John had been getting restless, but now he wished she was in here with him.

"Just her legs," the doctor said, as if that would make everything better. "Mr. Sparrow I've seen this disease before, in cities. It's a cruel sickness that ravages a child's body. Sally's lucky she survived…But I wouldn't have high hopes for her to live much past three."

Jack felt numb. The doctor looked solemn, but not solemn enough in his opinion. Dr. Flannery did not look nearly solemn or contrite enough for just having told Jack Sparrow that his baby would die. That even if his little girl did by some miracle live, she would never walk again. Had he not prayed enough? Had the doctor not tried hard enough? He wanted to shake Flannery and demand that he do more to save the innocent little bird whose life had only just begun. Instead he grabbed his hat and coat, thanked the doctor in a somewhat choked voice, and joined his family outside.

"Well?" Mrs. Sparrow looked expectant, that everything was fine, Sally would make a full recovery. Jack put an arm around her shoulders and rubbed his face, short whiskers on his chin and lip tickling his hand.

"Tell ya later," he murmured, taking his son's tiny hand with his free hand.

Jenny grew cold. Anything Jack couldn't say in front of their son wasn't good news. Indeed, after John had gone to bed and Sally finally coerced into sleep, he sat with her on their bed and broke the news as gently and in as controlled a voice as he could manage. Jack had already done his grieving while Jenny was making dinner, in the back yard where he couldn't be seen from the kitchen window. His wife was a strong woman, but she would need him to be the strong one this time and he saw in an instant that he was right. Her sobs were muffled in his shirt as he held her, dry-eyed.

"Mummy?"

Jack looked over his wife's head at their son in the open doorway. From one hand, dangling by a flipper was a stuffed sea turtle stitched together from quilting scraps. From Jack's chest came the sounds of Jenny sniffling and trying to compose herself but she didn't look up.

"Mummy's not feelin' good, lad," Jack said quietly. John stood in the doorway, silent. "S'wrong? Bad dream?" He nodded. "C'mere. Maybe if you get a hug from yer mum you'll both feel better."

The boy scuttled across the floor and clambered up onto the bed, helped by his father's strong hand. His mother sniffed again and pulled her tearstained face out of her husband's shirt and gathered her little boy up into her arms and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, sweetheart," Jenny said softly, cuddling her son close.

Little John recounted his nightmare and, as part of a deal that she would then tell why _she _was crying, Jenny carefully explained. Together she and Jack explained that his sister was still very sick, that he would have to help Mummy now and protect Sally from any neighborhood bullies when she got older. The night was passed as a family. Jack and Jenny fell asleep in their clothes, holding each other. Snuggled between them was John and Scraps the sea turtle, a family united in grief and fear, and a tentative but sparkling glimmer of hope.


	4. The Adventures of Captain Dad

**A/N: **As promised, another chapter right after the other. Even if you're reading this long after it's published, go ahead and review. I still read reviews and it still makes me feel good that you take time to let me know what you think. Yes, I'm begging now. Please? I'm about to start taking votes on whether Sally lives or dies.

_Chapter Three_

_The Adventures of Captain Dad_

"No, Jack, I won't let you."

"But Jen—!"

"_No!_"

"It could make Sally better. She could have a chance!"

"The last time you went out after some mythical treasure you were marooned and nearly died!"

"I laid drunk on a beach for three days!"

"Well _you could have!_"

John and Sally sat in Sally's room, listening. John was at the desk chair and his sister on the bed, legs stretched out. A few weeks ago some neighborhood boys had called her "chicken legs." There had been a big row between John's parents and theirs over whether he had been justified in starting a fight with them over it, and had escaped with nothing more than a stern talking-to. Now he stared at his sister's atrophied legs without really seeing, listening to their parents' muffled voices. He didn't know what it was now, but the general topic of the fight was clear. Dad was leaving again.

"C'mon, Sal," he said quietly, standing. "Let's go play."

John helped his sister up and get situated. Tucked under one arm was Scraps—now having endured several re-stuffings—who went everywhere with Sally Sparrow and had had many adventures when the Sparrow children played at "The Adventures of Captain Dad." They knew their father's "real" name was Captain Jack Sparrow, but it felt unnatural to call him such like everyone else did. Scraps always played the part of Captain Dad, with John's tin soldiers often making an appearance as they made a game out of guessing what their father was doing or where he'd go next. They never even entertained the notion that he might not come back.

"You're so scared of her dying, you're not around for when she's alive!"

"It's been a year, hasn't it?!"

"Oh yes, a year out of _the past four_!"

John and Sally were certain to make plenty of noise as they came down the hallway. Adult voices abruptly stopped, but in the sitting room they were still standing across the room from each other, red-faced. They looked around in unison, beads in Jack's hair clacking as he moved.

Sally liked making things with beads, so whenever he made port he was sure to buy some beads as souvenirs; she had beads from all over the world. When she was three, he had brought back colorful trinkets from Jamaica and she had put together different lengths as a gift for him. For his birthday, she'd said, though his birthday had still been several months away. She had known even then, however, that he might not be around for his own birthday though he was always home for hers and John's. Having had no other place to put them, Jack had asked her to tie them in his hair and they had been there ever since. The longest, which featured an earring of Jenny's which had been broken for years, fell over his shoulder, being longer than the hair he still kept cropped at his shoulders.

As they passed through the now silent sitting room, Sally stopped to put a hand on her mother's belly. She grinned when a foot pressed out to meet her; the new baby (though Jack thought there might be two this time, considering how much bigger she was than she had been with either Sally or John) was very responsive to touch. The adults smiled, but as soon as the door closed their voices could be heard once more.

"Where d'ya think he's going now?" Sally asked as she stilted after her brother around the side to the back yard. They had to ask to leave the yard to play, and they hadn't thought to on the way out. "Singapore?" Five-year-old Sally didn't know where Singapore was, but she knew they had intricately carved wooden beads and pointy straw hats.

"Nah." John, who was eight now, picked up a stick. "I heard something bout the Holy Grail."

"What's that?"

He shrugged. "Something Jesus had, I guess."

"Jerusalem?" She didn't know where that was either, just that it was in the Bible. Maybe it was in Africa.

"Nah. King Arthur went after it, remember?" The Sparrow children were intimate with Arthurian legend.

Sally's face lit up. "London?" Jack had promised to take them when they were older, and five was older than four. John shrugged.

"Maybe. But he's not going."

"Why not?"

"Mumma won't let 'im. Not with the baby coming. When _you_ got here she didn't go back to Grampa's tavern for a real long time so Dad always came back from the docks after bed time."

When Jack was home he and Jenny earned a good, honest living. It didn't matter much to Jack where money came from so long as he and his family could survive, but he knew his wife cared and so when he was away he tried to sell off plunder instead of sending it directly. He would hold up a ship once a month and promise to spare their lives if they would deliver the money and a letter, and he would know if they kept it for themselves. Jenny for her part tried her best to ignore that even if the money weren't ill-gotten, the goods for which they had been traded were.

"Jack Sparrow don't you dare—!" _Slam!_

The sound of their father grumbling down the walkway toward town. He kicked something—probably the big oak tree out front—and began to swear loudly. The Sparrow siblings looked at each other and a silent mutual agreement passed between them. They started back towards the front.

"Papa?" Sally called. Jack's footsteps stopped as he waited for them to appear around the side of the house. "Can we come to town with you?"

Jack had looked tense and irritated, but now without an answer his eyes softened and he walked to meet his children. Wordlessly he picked Sally up and put her on his shoulders, tucking her crutches under one arm and feeling a bit of the tension fade from his muscles at the feel of Scraps in his usual riding spot on Jack's head.

"So…where're you going now, Dad?" John asked after a little while of walking. The feel of his father's hand on his neck, steering him down the dirt road, was a familiar and comforting feel.

Jack sighed. "Nowhere, son," he said quietly, squeezing John's neck gently. "Not for a while. Yer mum needs me here for now."

"Is it true? Is it true there's a Holy Grail that Jesus had?"

"Shut up, Sally!" They weren't supposed to have heard any of that.

"Jonathan!" Jack's voice carried a warning tone. His son mumbled an apology and he knew they'd both heard the argument. "I dunno if it's real, sweetheart," he admitted, "but if it is I'll find it for you. Promise."

"Then promise you'll stay home, Papa? Promise? I don't like it when you go away."

Her pleading tone broke his heart. "I promise, love. Just as soon as I find it. Then I promise I'll be home for good. Promise." In his peripheral vision a little hand reached around his head to stick out a pinky. He crooked his little finger around hers in a solemn oath. He _would_ come home.


	5. Return to the Nest

**A/N:** So penultimate chapter here! Next chapter we shall learn the fate of Sally Sparrow. I'm posting my third chapter today because this is the end of the chapters I have already written and I don't know when I'll have internet on my laptop again because I can't post from my phone. Special thanks to Eponine Sparrow first for reviewing and second for her input in the construction of the story! Enjoy y'all.

_Chapter Five_

_Return To The Nest_

Jack Sparrow walked up the hill towards The Nest. It had been called that since John was very young, so called after the family of Sparrows who lived there. Hopefully, there would always be a Sparrow living in The Nest on the hill. It was Autumn, but he didn't know what month or day. He hoped he hadn't missed the birthday he had returned for. Well, that wasn't the _only_ reason. The door crashed open and shouts of joy poured forth.

"Daddy Daddy!" Jack knelt down to receive the twins Layla and Celia into his arms. Picking them up and spinning them around, he could tell by their dresses and the way Jenny had done their hair that he wasn't too late. They were four today.

Jack's knees felt weak as he carried his youngest children up to the house. Last time had been too close, and he was seriously debating whether he should tell Jenny the truth this time. He knew she worried, and that his constantly putting himself within Death's reach angered her. She told him to think of their children if he hadn't the care to think of her or of himself. What she didn't seem to realize was that he _was_ thinking of her and the children.

He hadn't had time to thank Will properly and he wished he had. Jack had played it cool on the gallows, but all he could think of was his wife and children. About Jenny's face when the money stopped coming and when Gibbs came to find her and confirm her fears. About how he hadn't spent enough time with his children. About how very, very sorry he was for all of this.

The twins wriggled down when they saw Gibbs following behind. He let them go and ran the last few steps to the open door where Jenny waited. Jack swept his wife up in a tight embrace, hugging her close to his body and kissing her deeply. Her kisses always purified and forgave, and when he felt her arms slide around his neck his legs nearly gave out beneath him. Her ability to forgive and love so unconditionally left him in awe. The pirate knew he didn't deserve such a good, amazing woman as Jenny Sparrow. Will Turner didn't realize how much he had truly saved when he had saved Jack.

It was when his oldest daughter came hobbling out and he knelt to hug her tightly to him that Jack finally made a resolve. He had come too close to death; he couldn't risk that again. Jack Sparrow was staying home for good this time. Sally had made it all the way to nine when Dr. Flannery had told them not to expect her to live past three; she was strong like her mother, stubborn like her father, she was a survivor. But sometimes even the most stubbornly surviving succumbed, and Jack couldn't risk not being with her for however much time either of them had left.

Gibbs stayed for as long as the celebration went on in honor of the twins' birthday, then with Jack's blessing left to take control of the Pearl alongside Anna Maria. While Jenny made dinner the birthday girls sat on their father's knees and re-braided his beard, giggling the entire time; they had been the ones to put them there in the first place because they thought he looked silly, but were secretly glad he'd kept them in even when he'd left. After dinner Jack tucked in all three of his daughters and hugged John goodnight-for he was 14 now and too old for tucking in-then went to bed with his lover, his wife, his beautiful loving Jenny. Never had he been so grateful for the opportunity to make love to her, to show her just how much and how intensely he loved her despite being gone for so long, months or years at a time.

Despite popular belief, Jack had never been unfaithful to his wife; gotten drunk and left many a woman disappointed, certainly. Stolen, lied, and cheated absolutely, and left a slew of pissed off women in his wake. And men, really. He seemed to have a knack for irritating people who had no problem physically harming him. But in the past fifteen years the only woman Jack had ever lain with was his own Jenny, and he wondered at her faith in him; never had she even asked whether he had betrayed her trust.

That night, laying with his sleeping wife in his arms, Jack awoke with a quiet gasp. He had dreamed that Norrington was in close pursuit and soldiers in red had broken down the door. He had been dragged naked from his bed, out of his home, to be strung up from the ancient oak tree out in the yard in front of his children. Present amongst the witnesses was a man he had hoped would forget their deal. But once Jack had confirmed that he was alive and no one had stormed into the house to bring harm to him or his family his heart fell and he admitted to himself that his resolve of earlier that day couldn't hold.

Jack Sparrow would never be able to sleep soundly again knowing he was bringing harm upon his family as long as he didn't face his own sins. Two years time would mark the time Davey Jones had allowed for him to be captain of the Black Pearl, and so he would spend the next two years being the best father and husband he could. But then he would have to disappear again, at least for a little, long enough to find the heart of Davey Jones and rid himself of the monster after his soul, and then he would return to his family. He would tell Jenny he was off after something else, the Fountain of Youth maybe, only because he was unable to tell her how desperate he had been for a ship in order to go off in search of something, anything, to save their daughter. He couldn't look his good Christian wife in the eye and tell her truthfully that he had sold his immortal soul for a ship, for Sally's sake. Perhaps Jack _would_ go after the Fountain of Youth; one more adventure, one more desperate attempt at finding something to save his little bird, before coming back home to stay with his family. But above all, he would take care of Davey Jones then come back home to his family for good.


End file.
